Firelight and Polaroids
by DreamersMyth27
Summary: "You live in a cave, kid. What do you know about being normal?" "More than you, Jason," Tim said passively. "Besides, I'm not a kid. I'm eighteen years old. I'm an adult." "Barely. What are you, 5' 4", 5' 5"? Living in that cave must have stunted your growth."


**This was written for the Batfam Halloween Content War 2k18 Day 2. The prompt was _Cozy_. This was written on my phone, so forgive any mistakes. :) Enjoy!**

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"You live in a cave, kid. What do you know about being normal?"

"More than you, Jason," Tim said passively. "Besides, I'm not a kid. I'm eighteen years old. I'm an adult."

"Barely. What are you, 5' 4", 5' 5"? Living in that cave must have stunted your growth."

"5' 5 3/7", Jason. So I'm not a giant; we can't all be Hulks. And I don't live in a cave."

"Like an abandoned theatre is _so_ much better."

Tim sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. Jason would be the death of him someday, and it would be a murder either. He's just plain old annoy Tim to death. Honestly, Jason would probably be disappointed by that. He'd said many times that he would be the one to kill Tim. He had yet to follow through on that threat.

"I do need to point out that since I live there it's not abandoned. Can't you go bug Damian or something? I'm trying to work."

Jason waved his head around in the air. "You work too much, Timmers. You should take more breaks."

"I literally took a seven hour long break yesterday making a huge pile of leaves and jumping into it from the roof. I think I'm good on breaks."

"Come on," Jason whined. "We gotta do something. Halloween is tomorrow. We could make candy apples or carve pumpkins."

"Go ask Damian. He hasn't done normal Halloween stuff before, remember?"

"Damian is back in that chair talking to his cat," Jason dismissed.

"His cat?" Tim asked without skipping a beat. "I didn't know he did that."

"Neither did I, Timbo." Tim grit his teeth upon hearing the nickname. He'd had worse before. He just needed to remember that. "But he does. It was actually kinda cute."

Tim paused his typing again - fingers frozen above the keys - and looked at Jason. _Cute_. Jason had just used the word cute to describe Damian Wayne, Tim's little demon of a brother. The world hadn't ended either.

"I worry about you sometimes, Jason," Tim admitted. "You just used the word cute in the same sentence as The name Damian Wayne. What is the world coming to? You sounded like Dick."

Now it was Jason's turn to freeze. "Dick? _Him_?"

Ah, sweet payback. How Tim did love it.

"I call it like I see it."

Jason growled lowly, but after a moment he stopped, took a deep breath, and calmed down.

"I'm not going to murder you, Tim, but only because I like you."

"I'll take it," Tim said, shrugging slightly and going back to typing.

Jason was silent for a moment and it was only the fact that Tim could still feel the man's eyes on him that he knew Jason hadn't left.

"We should get pictures," Jason said suddenly. "I think everyone else is in the room with Damian reading or napping. Hell, I even saw Alfred go in there. Bruce too."

Tim nodded. "That would be a good idea. Cute too. Damian might murder us though."

Jason seemed to consider that for a moment. "Eh, it'd be worth it just to have proof he can relax. Can you imagine Jon's face? He wouldn't believe it."

"They've had sleepovers though, haven't they?" Tim asked absently, already imagining all the scenarios pictures of a relaxed Damian might come in handy. "Jon would have seen him sleeping, therefore relaxing."

"Do you relax when you sleep?"

"... I see your point."

"Mmhm," Jason said smugly.

"So, pictures?"

"Let's go. Got your phone?"

"Better. I'll be right back."

Tim set his laptop on a precarious stack of books, which wasn't exactly unusual in the library, but it was worth noting so he didn't knock it over later and break his laptop… again. He dashed up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time yet still making little to no noise. Jason followed him at a slower pace, and by the time he caught up Tim was already in his old room rifling through desk drawers.

"Watcha looking for?" Jason asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

"Well, you know how I convinced Batman to make me Robin?"

"No."

"Wait, seriously?" Tim asked, pausing and looking up at Jason. "You don't? You never bothered to figure out why I was Robin before trying to kill me and harping Bruce about replacing you?"

Jason shrugged, looking anywhere but Tim.

"Well, that's terrible. So long story short I used to take pictures of you and Batman out as Batman and Robin and at parties since we ran in the same social circle. I used this camera to take them," Tim finished, pulling it out of his drawer and free from the scrap paper cluttered around it.

"Wait, you were a stalker?"

"I love how that's the fact you focus on," Tim said dryly. "But yes. Anyway, this is a great camera, though we'll have to actually develop the film the old fashioned way."

"I want to know more about the stalking thing," Jason said, pointing a finger at Tim. "But first things first, photos."

"Photos," Tim agreed solemnly.

They snuck downstairs together, using all their training in the art of silence and sneaking around to keep from making noise. Within a few moments they were each on one side of the entrance to the living room, just out of sight.

Jason leaned over, looking in. Tim followed his example and nearly squeaked. Damian was in a chair pulled close the the roaring fireplace snuggling with a quilt and a Alfred the Cat. He was sleeping. At the foot of the chair was Cass. She was reading quietly. Next to her was Duke, who was absently fiddling with Cass' hair. Dick was on the couch snoring and leaning against Bruce, who was also sleeping. Alfred was in the last chair, reading a newspaper and occasionally glancing at everyone with a fond smile.

Jason and Tim looked at each other at the same time. Jason pulled a face. Tim snorted. If Jason hadn't come to bug him, Tim guaranteed Jason would have joined them, reading an old fashioned book or something.

'Snap some pictures,' Jason mouthed. Tim rolled his eyes but complied. He managed to get a few, and he was sure that at least half of them would be good ones. The other half would probably only be okay ones. He'd give Jason those.

"Now that you're done taking pictures, perhaps you'd like to join us?" Alfred suggested in a tone of voice that meant they didn't have a choice about joining.

Tim jumped slightly and Jason swore quietly. After a moment of shared wide-eyes glances with each other, Tim chanced a look back in the living room.

No one had moved. Alfred was still calmly reading.

"Well, come on now," Alfred said. "The fireplace is warm and I'm sure you'll get better pictures from in here than by the door. Maybe we can even take a family portrait."

"Damian wouldn't agreed to that," Tim replied automatically. Jason shot him a withering glare for giving himself away.

"Master Damian is sleeping right now," Alfred said in just the right tone that suggested innocence but really didn't _mean_ innocence.

Tim glanced at Jason again, who shrugged. They entered the living room together. Tim would admit, it was cozy. The dark sky and grounds visible through the windows just added to that feeling that they were the only ones in the whole world.

"Sit down," Alfred commanded, still reading his newspaper. "I dare say you boys don't get enough downtime as it is. Enjoy it while you have it."

They sat down. The fire cast flickering shadows on everyone's faces and on the walls. It was warm and happy. Tim wouldn't trade this moment for the world, and he didn't think Jason would either.


End file.
